A Hard Truth
by ShadowsAreMyFriends
Summary: one shot; originally wrote this as a prequal to a character i made up for my friend's RPG. It's based upon the kingdom hearts games. Lilliana's life before she becomes a nobody. If i get enough support i may consider writing more of her story.


Love Stories. They always begin the same. It's true that with every brief feeling of love there is misery to accompany it. Misery isn't the worst of words. Misery can be dealt with. It can be overcome. Misery can turn to happiness. But what becomes of happiness? More so, what creates happiness? Love, of course! A love that blossoms to life! Oh, she was no stranger to love. It filled the entirety of her days.

Her parents, of course were in love. A simple love. A love which conjured purity and happiness. It was in love that she was created. Not many are born from pure love these days. But she was. Yes, it's true. Her parents loved each other, and loved her all the more. Her crib was lined with hand knitted blankets. Her head was adorned with carefully picked out lace that was almost always tied lovingly in a perfect bow that sat slightly askew atop her loveable head. A head from which sprang the most perfectly drawn auburn curls. Her eyes were her mothers; the only thing she'd ever have of her mother. Her mind was entirely her fathers. He was a professor in a local college. He knew everything. A statement like that will always be taken with skepticism. Let it be stated that her father was no ordinary professor. He did more than teach from the thousands of books he had read; he wrote them too. He would spend hours simply looking at something, only to question "what if".

"What are you doing father?" was always her greeting to him.

"Where do you suppose a caterpillar acquired his wings?" was his response one day.

The little auburnette brought a finger up to one curl that carefully lined her perfectly healthy cheeks. She often did this as she thought. She gently twirled the curl around her pointer finger, and when she could twirl no more, she pulled slightly. Her green eyes darkened in thought. Her eyes were always what betrayed her. One could always tell what she felt through her eyes.

"The spirits give the caterpillar his wings father!" She exclaimed. Her eyes shone bright and her smile was contagious. Laughing, her father replied;

"Of course they do! You are the smartest little girl in the land." He mused, taking his daughter into his loving embrace.

The happiness was short lived. Mistrust through the government soon seized the quiet life, and taught one little girl her first lesson in love; death.

Her father, as can be expected, was one of the first to be taken. A smart man knows too much. To the government he was a threat. He resisted arrest. A smart man knows when the government is to be defied. The little house was shaken and pounded on. The professor clung to his wife as she cried into his lovingly stitched sweater vest.

"My love! " he cried "It won't be over for you! Take our daughter, take our sweet Lilly and run! I can hold them off. I'm to die anyways, I will not betray you! Run! Run and never look back!"

Those were the last words she heard her father utter. She and her mother fled the city. They never looked back. Within the months leading to one, dreadful day, she watched as her mother slowly and deliberately died of a broken heart. In the night she would hear her cry out;

"Oh Erik! I cannot live! Life is nothing without your love!"

On that dreadful day, Lilliana buried her mother. Her last words were few yet left Lilliana in such a horrible state that she could not bear the bright sunlight that shone on that horrid, dreadful day!

"Never look back." Her mother whispered.

Cursed Sun! The mockery! Oh yes, she learned her lesson in love that day. At any time, and at any moment, love, something she now saw as uncontainable as water, could be taken away.

Lilliana returned to the city one day. She had grown, not only in age but in mind. Her eyes were rimmed in a darker shade then her youth, yet brightness could still steal away through them. Her heart beat with the same intensity it did years ago, but with a lack of steadiness. Her weakness had been awakened but not revealed. She continued in her fathers footsteps. All she wanted to do was learn. She wanted to know what her father knew. She wanted so badly to be a part of him.

It is here, once again in this city, where Lilliana learned her second and final lesson in love. His name was Asriel, and everything about him made her heart flutter. His penetrating blue eyes melted hers. When she was with him, she felt as if nothing else in the world mattered. He had shown her what love was. They loved each other.

"I want to spend my life with you Lilly." He said to her one day. "Marry me?"

"Nothing else in the world could make me any happier then to become your wife." She replied. He kissed her with every bit of sincerity and tenderness. They were to wed that summer, under the two giant willow trees in the park.

Unfortunately, their happiness was short lived. Once again, the government reigned terror over it's people. Threats were sent out against overthrow, and once again, leaders were searched among the learned and educated. It was during a walk in the park that they were captured. Lilliana's identity and background was soon sorted out, and she became a prime suspect. Asriel too, became a prime suspect because of his affiliation. He would be sentenced to death with his fiancée…unless.

Tied and gagged, Asriel was brought before the court. Lilliana sat in the same circumstances in the middle of the room. The constable graciously propped him up and released his gag so that he could speak.

_It started out as a feeling…_

"Please tell the court what you're ready to confess. If the evidence is seen substantial, you will be freed of all charges." The judge spoke

_Which then grew into a hope…_

"I confess…" he quavered in his stance. He looked toward his fiancée. Her face was calm, her eyes bright.

_Which then turned into a quiet thought…_

"I confess the deliberate action to overthrow the government by Miss. Lilliana Greer." His voice was strong, but his eyes spoke something different.

_Which then grew into a quiet word…_

Something different indeed. A second lesson in love; betrayal.

_And then that word grew louder and louder…_

"Take Miss. Greer to the pit. She will await a hanging there." The judge confirmed. Her heart beat quickened. She was torn from the chair.

"Wait!" A pathetic voice cried. "WAIT!"

_Until it was a battle cry…_

"You said I could talk to her!" Asriel was shouting after the guards.

"As you wish, you are free to ask permission." The judge motioned to remove the gag that prevented her speech. "Do you wish to speak with your fiancée one last time Miss. Greer?" Her eyes spit fire, yet she managed to utter one word;

"No."

_I'll come back, when you call me…_

She heard a horrible groan from her Asriel as she was carried from the room. He was her Asriel no more. She belonged to no one. She would be loved by none. She didn't look back.

_No need, to say Goodbye._

In a rush of hands she was carelessly thrown over the edge and into the dark pit. She landed with a loud thud upon the cold stone. At first she lay there, in one miserable heap upon the floor. She eventually found that she was no longer bound, and her hands were free as well as her feet and mouth.

She backed up against the wall and sat alone in her darkness. She wondered how long it would take to die of a broken heart. Hopefully not as long as it will take them to hang her. Yet, she couldn't help losing hope in such a miracle. If only she could simply die of a broken heart upon the spot. It took her mother months to do so, surely it will never happen within hours. The heat that radiated from her body was slowly being sucked up by the cold stone. What was the point in hurrying death? You can't live without a heart. And she no longer had one. She was dead.


End file.
